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Monday, July 25, 2016

It's time for a journey through the CBS Thursday schedule in 2015-16...

fall

Year

8:00

8:30

9:00

9:30

10:00

10:30

Avg

2014-15

The Big Bang Theory

Mom

Two and a Half Men

The McCarthys

Elementary

Elementary

123

2014-15

249

137

122

87

71

71

123

2014-15

249

137

122

87

71

71

123

2014-15

193

193

104

104

71

71

123

2015-16

The Big Bang Theory

Life in Pieces

Mom

2 Broke Girls

Elementary

Elementary

125 (+2%)

2015-16

262 (+6%)

134 (-2%)

112 (-8%)

110 (+26%)

66 (-6%)

66 (-6%)

125.140304037487

2015-16

262.25685174086

133.874570914837

112.134255979949

109.845801776276

66 (-6%)

66 (-6%)

125.140304037487

2015-16

198 (+3%)

198.065711327848

111 (+6%)

111 (+6%)

66 (-6%)

66 (-6%)

125.140304037487

VsAvg

+14%

0.143508386290206

-35%

-0.354315890080814

-41%

-0.411792415791724

-18%

Rank

3/15

3/15

14/15

14/15

15/15

15/15

14/15

The Big Bang Theory had a somewhat shaky first couple weeks of its Monday run, but held up well post-premiere and had a great 4.4 on Supergirl's premiere night. It was then very healthy when it arrived on Thursday. But Life in Pieces was a clear step down from Mom retention-wise, and Mom and 2 Broke Girls had some disappointing results in the 9/8c hour.

winter

Year

8:00

8:30

9:00

9:30

10:00

10:30

Avg

2014-15

The Big Bang Theory

Mom

Two and a Half Men

The McCarthys

Elementary

Elementary

139

2014-15

273

151

146

95

84

84

139

2014-15

273

151

146

95

84

84

139

2014-15

212

212

121

121

84

84

139

2015-16

The Big Bang Theory

Life in Pieces

Mom

Angel from Hell

Elementary

Elementary

128 (-8%)

2015-16

258 (-5%)

140 (-7%)

120 (-18%)

97 (+2%)

75 (-11%)

75 (-11%)

127.535916017363

2015-16

257.941480956792

140.358524491909

119.762436658857

97.4881490764453

75 (-11%)

75 (-11%)

127.535916017363

2015-16

199 (-6%)

199.15000272435

109 (-10%)

109 (-10%)

75 (-11%)

75 (-11%)

127.535916017363

VsAvg

+15%

0.151494067216018

-34%

-0.337013401995791

-34%

-0.338050131066465

-15%

Rank

7/15

7/15

14/15

14/15

15/15

15/15

12/15

Life in Pieces and Mom picked up some steam after the new year, but continued to trail last year's occupants. Angel from Hell was pulled after five episodes.

spring

Year

8:00

8:30

9:00

9:30

10:00

10:30

Avg

2014-15

The Big Bang Theory

The Odd Couple

Mom

The Big Bang Theory (R)

Elementary

Elementary

120

2014-15

220

120

122

107

74

74

120

2014-15

220

120

122

107

74

74

120

2014-15

170

170

114

114

74

74

120

2015-16

The Big Bang Theory

The Odd Couple

Mom

2 Broke Girls

Rush Hour

Rush Hour

114 (-5%)

2015-16

224 (+2%)

109 (-10%)

113 (-7%)

109 (+2%)

64 (-15%)

64 (-15%)

113.632648613306

2015-16

224.268511959898

108.865035688988

112.788100038141

108.865035688988

64 (-15%)

64 (-15%)

113.632648613306

2015-16

167 (-2%)

166.566773824443

111 (-3%)

111 (-3%)

64 (-15%)

64 (-15%)

113.632648613306

VsAvg

+8%

0.0795645240838196

-27%

-0.270504371581638

-38%

-0.382766992118679

-17%

Rank

7/15

7/15

12/15

12/15

15/15

15/15

13/15

The Odd Couple filled in after DST and while it seemed a bit weaker than Life in Pieces for the most part, it certainly didn't completely crater. And improved flow may have helped Mom and 2 Broke Girls to finish the season relatively well. Rush Hour filled in at 10/9c with Elementary numbers or a little worse, which is not a compliment.

The Big Bang Theory: The first couple weeks hinted that it could be a big drop season for Big Bang, but it recovered nicely from there. Ends the season down just a single point in Plus. Grade: B.

Life in Pieces: It had a pretty nice recovery in the second half of the season, living up to CBS' extreme patience with it. But it's moving to Thursday at 9:30 for season two, which has often been something of an afterthought scheduling-wise.

The Odd Couple: Considering how long it was off the air, and all the strange timeslots in which it aired, it could've done worse, for sure. It was basically the same thing it had been late in season one, which was an OK holder of the Big Bang live viewership. Grade: C+. CBS' sudden aggressive re-investment in comedy means it gets onto the fall schedule for the first time in 2016.

Mom: It aired at 8:30 a lot last season, so clearly it's not as bad as the above trend would indicate. Still, it was moderately disappointing for much of the season, never really looking like the show that had such strong TBBT retention a year ago. But it seemed to get a little better toward the end of the season. Was it held back by bad flow with Life in Pieces? Grade: C+.

Elementary: If not for the move to Sunday near the end of the season, this was gonna be the steadiest season Elementary has ever had. Even with that move, it was tied for its smallest decline in Plus! But since this is Elementary, that's not saying much. Grade: C.

Rush Hour: It never really dropped into much-worse-than-Elementary territory... but even being an Elementary-level performer is not good under normal circumstances.

The names in this last table link to the shows' War of 18-49 pages. Links with an asterisk(*) have been updated with the new info. Updates to younger shows will come later in the summer.

Check back tomorrow for this day's new Schedules Plus! Till then, you can refer to the old version.